Terpsichore: Lies
by Sobriquet Nightmare
Summary: Lies: The truth of it all lost to time. Indistinctness abounds in a world of greys, nothing black and white. Written expecially for Crappishh's Fanfiction Challenge.


IN: 13 OCT 2008 1132 +8 GMT (Singapore). Disclaimer: I do not own Maplestory. Original characters do belong to myself. A slight warning for macabre. Please note the innuendos and hints provided in the synopsis and story. This is meant to be the way it is.

Written specially for Crappishh's Challenge. Group B.

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Terpsichore: Lies

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The cloaked figure stood, eyes a piercing white – opaque as cataracts, stunningly horrendous and beautiful – as his arms reached out to the petrified figure, encased in stone, as his hands clenched into fists, not a sound withstanding the silence that dwelled over.

Two men of the Warrior and Magician caste, still as statues, their matte stone bodies standing in half-iterance. Rubies sprung from their fingertips: a fountain of pure sanguine pooling at their feet. Desmond heard the screams. Souls. How pathetic they were: how convincing it was to frame the evil of the world on a single creature, revered for its part on balance in the world, and how noble of them to attempt at its destruction; how successful they had been in bringing that beloved figure down to its knees, wiping it from the very face of existence; how wretched their spirits were, forced to withstand the slow death in their bodies that were encased in the sands of time, feeling every prick of pain that coursed through their bodies as they were emptied of beautiful life-giving blood.

Beautiful, wonderful pain.

Desmond smiled, thrusting both hands into the statues like a knife slipped through water, watching their expressions contort slowly as he let loose his spirit, strangulating their very existence to hell. He held two hearts in his palms, burning them in the power of his might, taking in the fresh breath of souls into his being.

His job was done.

* * *

I could feel life slipping away from my fingertips – delicate as they might have been, those hands had seen me through the eternity of life in the beauty of Ludibrium. The ringing of the magical Clock Tower every midday and midnight, and the care of time entrusted to me by the divinities of the skies.

It made so much sense now: their invasion, their ideals and doctrines, and finally, their execution.

All they had wanted to do was to save the world from evil: the pure evil that had threatened to envelop their lives, and expel it once and for all, all in the name of peace. All they had done was to throw the pieces of time into chaos. All they had done was to plunge Ludibrium and the world into loss.

My mind wandered to the Temple of Time, wishing Scholar Solomon and Angel Genesis protect it from the malice of the Aliens, as I could only let my spirit slip away. The blessed land of the skies – maybe it was time for me to go. Maybe time did take its toll on everything, including its own guardian. Time waits for no man, Flo used to mutter under his breath. Feeling the shortness of my chuckles, I let it go. The grasp on life that I held released, letting me live in eternity: in the memories of the beings of Ludibrium.

How I loved Patricia's smile.

* * *

The remaining party of five stood within the remnants of what that had been once a great battle. Fragments of Dark Stars lay scattered across platforms, items scattered across the grounds freely, as were the bodies of their fellow guild partners. A lone Bishop knelt, weeping at the side of his beloved, never to see him again; the keen eyes of a certain Page picked out the source of his personal discomfort, a grin stretching forth. The Dark Talchion – what an object of beauty and danger, its colours illuminating the area in hues of the rainbow, throbbing with a soft hum.

"To the Fires of El Nath!" He roared. He heard the shout of thousands in his mind – the thousands of lives they had saved in that very moment, and the thousands of lives that had yet to come. The four in his party glanced solemnly at the object caressed in his palms, each roaring in anger as they struck it with all the fury they could summon. It stood, unscathed: it was the object of their sadness, and of their anger. Without it, none would have had happened: no lives would have had been lost in this battle. But it was not in vain: the gain would outweigh the loss, little by little, until the loss was a loss no more.

Or so, they thought, as a Mage of the flames stood alongside his partner, the unmoving blue body still at his feet, fragments of the hideous machine flung far and wide. The shimmer of magic bathed the air in the same power that it had held during the engagement, running a shiver down his spine. A whisper escaped his breath.

"You're a genius."

* * *

Ludibrium stood, its yellow-bricked roads smiling. Mister Bouffon trotted around, greeting each child with a chuckle, and each passer by with a tip of his hat. How formal, and how gentlemanly. The old man of years watched as Papulatus ascended the Clock Tower, waving to him. He smiled, awaiting the beautiful melody that would play itself out on the ears of every single being in this town of joy, of fun, and of hope.

The music came like a breath of wind, tinkling like diamonds in the rain as a sudden flash of sound and burst of cymbals played out in his mind, drawing him towards the architectural wonder. The music was like the rustle of leaves, so gentle and soothing, yet demanded attention like the shimmer of lightning. It was music beyond recognition: it was divine. The Music of the Spheres – each being held its own. The Clock Tower's melody was for the citizens to hear, and for them only. Not a single foreigner had managed to listen so easily to the harmonious tunes driven through the hearts of the people, save for a few spiritual pilgrims travelling the land.

It was something that no one took for granted.

He felt a pat on his shoulder, Flo bounding ahead of the elderly gentleman as they made their way to where Papulatus stood, his job finished for that hour. They struck up a conversation, discussing whether to have tea with The Gatekeeper and Thanatos to discuss the intricacies of time – time that was given for them in eternity. Time that would never allow them to waste away, living for as long as Ludibrium stood.

Time, which was held in the arms of the beholder, like diamonds amongst coal, like cheese among Retz.

Mister Bouffon felt his mouth lift itself with his spirit as he wished a cup of tea from Papulatus.

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A/N: Joining the Terpsichore series, though it seems irrelevant, is Terpsichore: Lies. Ladies and gentlemen, I demand a round of applause. Nic, you had better review this or I will blow my head off knowing that I am totally unknown. A near (or rather, greater amount of) twelve hours to conceive this.

OUT: 13 OCT 2008 2328 +8 GMT (Singapore)


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